BizNet on Podcamp: How to Do a Skype Interview

I was interviewed at 7 am this morning by Shauna Nicholson of BizNet Internet Solutions. You can watch the interview below to learn more about Podcamp Hawaii. Shauna knows her stuff and this process illustrates a number of great examples (and a few opportunities for improvement) for conducting successful interviews using the social web, and Skype in particular.

All of this has taken place in less than 24 hours. Two geeky females, a few social web applications, and the internet produced several media products, numerous links and thousands of impressions.Background and Set up

I posted on Twitter that I was looking for help getting press coverage on our free, all-volunteer event. (We do not have a PR team or budget.) Shauna, who I met a week ago in Detroit at a meetup of Twitter peeps organized by David Damore, replied soon after and offered to interview me for her site. I accepted!

Shauna then DM’d me (sent a private message) asking if I preferred email questions or a Skype (internet telephone) interview. I chose Skype, as I find the live interaction more interesting and because I am a terrible typist.

We quickly scheduled the date and time via Twitter private message, and exchanged usernames on Skype.

Takeaway: Asking for help is a winning strategy in social media. People love giving back and both Shauna and I earned a chance to help each other while promoting our own personal brands/projects.

The Interview Mechanics

It was 1 pm in Detroit and 7 am Saturday morning in Hawaii. I was up and showered but frankly was thinking this would be audio, not video. Shauna was set up for video, so we went with it, as in general I prefer video whenever possible.

Skype allows video recording now, so we were able to chart for a few minutes before she hit record and the official interview was captured.

Shauna also was able to instant message me a list of questions so I could see the text. Skype allows you to have multiple windows open, so this makes for a rich communication interface.

After the interview, I was able to message her all of the correct spellings and links to the people we discussed; made it easier for her to do a good job and for me to get excellent coverage!

Continuing use of the social web, Shauna posted a perfectly crafted Twitter message (link has expired). It mentions both @podcamphawaii and me, @roxannedarling, and links to her video post on her website.

I also created this post to demonstrate how learning, sharing, and promotion that can be done so seamlessly and powerfully online. I was also able to copy all of the links from the code of Shauna’s post so I too can pass on some link love, fairly easily.

The Interview Questions

This is where Shauna really excelled. She had done some research in advance, so her questions were tailored directly to me. Saves a lot of time and makes both of us look smarter!

She gave me a chance to talk about the many aspects of Podcamp, which in turn gave me a chance to mention several of our sponsors.

She also asked me who all was helping on the project. This is a key part of the social conversation online – networking and sharing the spotlight with others who contribute.

She then added links to each of the sponsors, speakers, and team members we discussed. This link love takes more time but really is a service to her readers and to the Podcamp team. One of the things we’ve promised our sponsors is that we will be talking about and linking to them.

Opportunities for Improvement

Instead of assuming I could have double-checked with Shauna to see if we were doing audio or video on Skype.

I could have taken a few extra moments to set up and get my framing better on the screen. (A little closer to the camera, face higher on screen, close the closet door in background, etc.) Let’s chalk that one up to being not quite awake combined with having relaxed so much into the informality and transparency of the social web.

Now that we’ve had our consciousness raised, please enjoy the video and add your own highlights and suggestions!UPDATE:! The dates of Podcamp are October 24 & 25; the Social Media Workshop is Oct 23! Thanks to Judi for the correction.

7 Comments on “BizNet on Podcamp: How to Do a Skype Interview”

One more observation: Shauna’s site is configured to accept trackbacks, so the moment I published this post, a link back to it was automatically created in the Comments on her site. Go check it out for yourself! (Just click on the BizNet graphic at the beginning of this article.)

It’s great that you did the background on this: It’s a true acclaim to the very social media tools we’re talking about to begin with!

I was honored to do the interview. It was a great topic for me. Companies hire my company (me) to set up social media strategy, launch, and maintain their campaigns. It’s very exciting to be able to hear about others in that very space, especially across the country!

For anyone interested in Skype recording: It’s not a default. The recorder is actually a download you pay for. It’s just under $15 and completely worth it! (http://www.ecamm.com/mac/callrecorder/)

I’m a little bummed the recorded quality wasn’t as good as I’d hoped. I used my mac’s iMovieHD, exported for the web. In the future, I hope to get some tips as to how to improve the quality. However, this was my first Skype interview, so I’m overall really happy about how it went.

Best of luck with the event. If I can help out in the future, please don’t hesitate to ask!

@Judic – Mahalo! Thank for catching that. I edited the text above the video in the post so everyone gets it straight, even if O don’t always…

@Crystal – thank you for all the comment love. :-)

@Shauna – awesome additional info on the Skype video record option. You make this look easy, but I realized there truly was a case study here. There are lots of little things to remember that make a tech process successful for business.